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AMBIGUOUS
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I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Having more than one possible meaning
Example:
frustrated by ambiguous instructions, the parents were unable to assemble the toy
Classified under:
Similar:
double-barreled; double-barrelled (having two purposes; twofold)
double-edged (capable of being interpreted in two usually contradictory ways)
enigmatic; oracular (resembling an oracle in obscurity of thought)
left-handed (ironically ambiguous)
multi-valued; multivalent (having many values, meanings, or appeals)
polysemantic; polysemous (of words; having many meanings)
uncertain (ambiguous (especially in the negative))
Also:
unclear (not clear to the mind)
ambiguous; equivocal (open to two or more interpretations; or of uncertain nature or significance; or (often) intended to mislead)
Antonym:
unambiguous (having or exhibiting a single clearly defined meaning)
Derivation:
ambiguity (unclearness by virtue of having more than one meaning)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Open to two or more interpretations; or of uncertain nature or significance; or (often) intended to mislead
Example:
an equivocal response to an embarrassing question
Synonyms:
ambiguous; equivocal
Classified under:
Similar:
double; forked (having two meanings with intent to deceive)
evasive (deliberately vague or ambiguous)
indeterminate (of uncertain or ambiguous nature)
Also:
ambiguous (having more than one possible meaning)
Derivation:
ambiguity (unclearness by virtue of having more than one meaning)
ambiguity (an expression whose meaning cannot be determined from its context)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Having no intrinsic or objective meaning; not organized in conventional patterns
Example:
ambiguous inkblots
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
unstructured (lacking definite structure or organization)
Domain category:
psychological science; psychology (the science of mental life)
Derivation:
ambiguity (an expression whose meaning cannot be determined from its context)
Context examples:
She reflected on the affair for some time in much perplexity, and was more than once on the point of requesting from Mr. Thorpe a clearer insight into his real opinion on the subject; but she checked herself, because it appeared to her that he did not excel in giving those clearer insights, in making those things plain which he had before made ambiguous; and, joining to this, the consideration that he would not really suffer his sister and his friend to be exposed to a danger from which he might easily preserve them, she concluded at last that he must know the carriage to be in fact perfectly safe, and therefore would alarm herself no longer.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
